Germany Frets About Its Car Industry

By

Vanessa Fuhrmans

Updated Feb. 28, 2011 12:01 a.m. ET

German luminaries such as Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher, former tennis star Boris Becker and Chancellor Angela Merkel descended upon the Mercedes-Benz Forum in Stuttgart, Germany, last month to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the automobile's invention near here. But amid all the fanfare, the chancellor voiced a note of angst:

"If we want to remain the world leader in automobiles, then we have to be at the forefront of electro-mobility," she said at the ceremony, adding that Germany needed to...